Oriental Express – Card Making

Thank you to everyone for your lovely comments and kind words left on my last post.

I promised myself last week that I would have at least a few hours a week “just fun splash it about and see what happens crafting”. I have been looking around for a challenge to join in and by chance, as I was checking out a fabulous project made by Alison Hall The Crafty Trog on the PaperArtsy blog, I noticed their challenge. At the time, that challenge only had a couple of days to run. The current challenge has just been posted and it is “Dark to light, contrasts”. There are lots of inspirational photos attached to the challenge and all of them grabbed my imagination. Each piece prompting a thought or an idea one way or another.
So much fun.

I painted the background, graduating the colour from the plum to the yellow. So that is my dark to light. I thought this was a good idea until the paint started to dry as I was trying to blend the colours. I did add an extender which helped a little bit.
I then stamped the wording.

I used a thin water colour paper for the lady and stamped the head 3 times to get her hair really dark. I stamped the body, again 3 times, to try and get the shade of turquoise I wanted. Not quite the sky blue turquoise I wanted but it will have to do. Can you tell my obsessive tendencies were starting to creep in at this point! 🙂 Never a good sign. I also added some yellow to the pattern on her dress.

I thought it would be nice to have her looking up at the stars in the night sky. I had planned to paint in a moon but in my haste and excitement I completely forgot it!! lol! Anyway, to get her looking upwards, I chopped off her head and gave her a neck.

I pasted the lady pieces onto the background. I then painted around the edges with some diluted brown paint for a shadow effect and gave it all a coat of Mod Podge.

To finish off, I added some dark brown paint around the edges of the board and then spritzed it with water. I added the blue paint splashes and gave it all another coat of Mod Podge.

So beautiful, Florence!! The colors you used are deep and haunting, telling a story of ancient times. That you stamped the images more than once amazes me. I probably would never be able to get the stamp a second time (let alone a third) in the same spot. Inspiring, indeed!!

Thank you Marianne. It is funny. My brain keeps saying pastels….neutrals and then bold and dark it is!! lol! I will let you into a secret. I used a stamping board to stamp this 3 times. It is like two boards hinged together. The top board is where you put your stamp and the base is where you attach your paper/card. You just fold the top board over the base board and it stamps in exactly the same place every time. I don’t use the board much but it is ideal when the paper or card is a little bit difficult ie if it is a bit rough or very heavy card and struggles to take the ink.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Hugs Flo xx
P.S. Pleased you liked the link. Hope it is helpful.

LOL!…Oh, thank you for sharing the secret. I haven’t done stamping much, so I’m always so impressed with you stamp artists. Just stamping in the right place once is an amazing feat for me…especially with the stamps that you can’t see through. Well, your cards are so amazing, so keep up the stamping and any little tricks that help you get the desired effect…we all have them. 😉

Hi Marianne. These are great little boards. I had it last Christmas but have only used it twice because I am so used to doing everything manually the old fashioned way but I think it could be useful for someone who maybe is new to stamping and also for someone, if they have dexterity problems. They are a little pricey though. Which is the down side.
Hugs Flo xx

She looks so good! And so fine to read how you made this card! Love the background colours and the little light from the yellow in her dress! This is one that inspires me to get my eastern stamps out… TFS and have a fun weekend! Hugs, Gerrina

Thank you Diana. You are so kind. Some of the cards shown on the blog are used for promotional purposes by Crafty Individuals, who are based in the UK and manufacture and sell their own rubber stamps. The remainder of the cards either go to friends to use or given to charity. The card on this post was made just for fun to enter into a challenge.
Take care, Flo x

This oriental lady is gorgeous Florence and your dark to light background goes beautifully with her, and I love the mix of colours. What a great idea to cut her head off and add a neck so you could have her looking upwards. x